[env-trinity] Rescue on the river

[Josh Allen]

Article Launched: 08/05/2006 04:27:18 AM PDT


Rescue on the river



John Driscoll The Times-Standard

 

http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4140796

 

Firefighters pull injured man from Trinity gorge 

When he was hopping from rock to rock along the Trinity River 1,100 feet below Burnt Ranch Campground, Dave Nicolls didn't feel far from his family above. 

But when Nicolls took one wrong step and fell about 4 feet onto his hip, he may as well have been a world away. Thanks to the help of firefighters on hand to fight fires in the Denny area, Nicolls narrowly escaped dehydration and exhaustion, which threatened to incapacitate him. 

Nicolls, 38, of Redding had made the steep descent to the river to go fishing, as he'd done a hundred times before. He left at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. He took a trail posted as not maintained, reaching the big boulders in the turbulent stretch of river. 

In a Friday phone interview, Nicolls said he fished briefly, then walked up river toward a better fishing hole. He had to leap from rock to rock, when he lost his footing and fell onto his hip. Using the adrenaline from knowing he was hurt, he tried to climb up the steep sides of the canyon, trying to convince himself that he could get back to camp. 

"In my mind, I didn't think it was that bad," Nicolls said. 

He soon had to quit. The heat and the sun was quickly dehydrating him, he was in severe pain and bees were being annoyingly aggressive. He began to yell, and kept yelling for hours, until his voice was hoarse. 

Nicolls said he's been in tight spots before. But six years ago, he had a bout with cancer that left him weaker than he was in his younger years. 

"Every time I went to move I just ended up in a worse position," Nicolls said. 

Back at camp, Nicolls' fiancée and daughter were getting nervous. At 1:30 p.m. they walked to the Bar Complex fire information office to call the Trinity County Sheriff's Department. They got more help than they could have expected. Firefighters and professional rescuers at the office began to learn what was happening. 

Fire medic Scott McKenney, communications unit leader Clay Flad and Shasta-Trinity National Forest resource advisor Larry McLean set out to look for Nicolls. 

More than an hour later, Flad heard a faint voice. He worked closer to the voice and at 3:00 p.m. found Nicolls about 150 feet from the river. 

With about a dozen rescuers on hand, the crews set up two rope and pulley systems to haul Nicolls -- secured to a litter -- up the first 200 feet. They attached the litter to the second rope system and hauled the 185-pound Nicolls another 600 feet, to where rescuers could carry him the rest of the way. 

Flad -- who has been teaching rope rescue techniques for six years -- said that the rescue took about an hour. It came none too soon. 

"There's no way he could have gotten out of there without assistance," Flad said. 

In all, people from 12 different agencies worked together to pull off the rescue. 

  

 

 

 

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